What Personal Training taught me about Love

You wake up every morning and one of the first things on your mind is your heart rate. You’re brushing your teeth and trying to decide to yourself “Is today a good day for fasted cardio?” You know that no matter what it is you do it will be a reflection of how you feel about yourself. Then there are your friends, family, and clients; as you drink your first glass of water you recall the conversation you had with one of them about their recent diet choices. You begin to think of ways to help them reach their goals. You take pride in being someone to help others cope both physically and emotionally.

Ironically, personal training taught me that as a matter of business, you take on the obligation to show others love. You invest your time and effort (even emotions) into people who come to you for exactly that reason. They not only want your help, they often need it. Sure they could do it on their own but everyone is in a different stage of their lives and at this particular moment they may be vulnerable and are willing to contract someone to help build them up – again, both physically and emotionally.

I began to see the correlation. I am someone people confide in for support. I am someone people feel they can trust. In being so, I turn right around and selflessly give myself to these people. But, then they go home. They go home to their families, their friends, their significant others whom they truly love. They return to these people with a renewed sense of courage and maybe even dignity. I would be lying if I didn’t say that doesn’t make me happy.

So, I’ve learned that sometimes business can teach you how to engage in your personal life. I’ve learned that just like in training others, in my personal life I am training others who I am to them. I learned that it would be foolish to take on this profession without my heart being in it. This is the essence of love. To be selfless. To be willing to love someone when they need love. To be encouraging to those who, at the time, just may be vulnerable. Sometimes, even in your personal life, that means that these people will go back to their homes. To their families, friends, and significant others with the courage to love them as they have been loved. And, that’s OK with me.